Getting closer to Game 5: ‘We know there’s only two options: play on or move on. We’re aware of that’

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — It’s not as if the Sharks need anyone to tell them how precarious their season is going into Game 5 tonight, trailing 3-1 in their Western Conference final series against the Vancouver Canucks.

To be determined is how they deal with the pressure — and lack of confidence from the outside world — as they prepare and play the game. So what’s Todd McLellan’s approach to the situation?

“Perhaps we can just lay it on the line, go out and play. We know there’s only two options: play on or move on. We’re aware of that,” he said this morning. “We can go out, lay it all on the line. We expect to do that. We want to empty the tank here, not worry about what happens after that.

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He said his team can also draw from the last series when San Jose held the 3-1 lead over the Detroit Red Wings — who won the next two games and forced a Game 7.

“We were here two weeks ago with Detroit, on the other side of the coin,” McLellan said. “When we were the 3-1 team, you could tell that Detroit’s goal was to bring it back to Detroit. They believed they could win Game 6 there. They were hanging their hat on it and they did it. All of a sudden the pressure turned.

“It’s about us having a good, honest effort tonight,” he added. “We’ll worry about Game 6 if we get there.”

The Sharks coach also was asked if the do-or-die nature of tonight’s game simplified his message to the team.

“No,” he said, “It will be the same message. We’ll try to prepare them for any small adjustments we have. We’ll stress certain parts of our game.

“They’re pretty intelligent guys in there, believe it or not. They are,” he continued. “They know what’s ahead of them. They need to take advantage of it. They’ll be ready.”

McLellan also repeated points he’s previously made: That he liked the effort he’s been getting from his top line and his fourth line, but needs to see more from the guys in the middle — and you can figure he mostly means Dany Heatley, Devin Setoguchi and Joe Pavelski, but others as well.

“We have some players that are under performing, some players that have to perform better,” McLellan said. “All teams at this point do. All four teams that are left have them. It’s just who has the fewest, the ones that underachieve the shortest amount of time. You can’t be perfect, no such thing as a perfect player or perfect game, you’re going to make mistakes. It’s just we’ve got to minimize it, shrink it up a little bit.”

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*****Jamie McGinn isn’t saying much about that hip check from Canucks defenseman Keith Ballard that sent the Sharks forward cartwheeling in Game 4. But that’s because he has doubts about it’s legality, not because he was embarrassed by it.

“I’m fine, I just don’t think it’s very clean, that’s all,” McGinn said. “When you hit below the knee, it’s either tripping or it’s got to be something. But it’s over with now and we’ve got to win tonight. It’s done with. In hockey you have to have a short memory, but that’s part of the game. It’s hitting.”

McGinn was coming down the sideboards, pursuing a puck at full speed when Ballard caught him. And, yes, Ballard was very aware that it was McGinn — who had already taken out Christian Ehrhoff and Aaron Rome with hard hits — that he was targeting.

“Yeah, I knew he was out there and then I saw him coming down pretty hard,” Ballard said. “He’s a big strong kid and he moves very fast. If he hits you, it’s going to be pretty hard.”

But, no, Ballard doesn’t think that hit will alter the way McGinn plays.

“I don’t think it’s going to effect him,” the defenseman said. “He plays the same game no matter what.”

Likewise, Canucks forward Ryan Kesler said he didn’t see any carryover from that punch he took from Ryane Clowe after the final buzzer at Sunday’s game.

“What happened there?” Kesler said, feigning ignorance of the play before it was spelled out for him. “I’m not worried about that, I’m worried about the W tonight.”

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.

“We don’t answer to the media,” he said. “We answer to our fans somewhat at home. We owe them an effort. We owe them a commitment level second to none. But that’s it.”

nucksrule

Sammy, you are welcome to, but shes a he.

RK17

We also gave you Bryan Adams and Justin Bieber. YOU’RE WELCOME!

Sammy

@only-shark
THanks!

little confusion here. It was NO TEETH that said I could make out with his wife.

Sorry nucks. plz continue to troll

1SHXFAN

OH MY……Sammy….lol

MADFAN

Only-Sharks (play-off)-Hockey:

“Win or Lose I am proud to be a Shark fan, all the high school name-calling tactics won’t budge me…”

Way to “Fan-UP!” Time to stay positive and keep thing in perspective. Can’t let the ignorant trolls get you down. I’m with you on this one!

2 hours….

GSDI, FTC!

MADFAN!

Sammy

No troll gonna break my stride
No troll gonna hooooold me down
Oh NO
Sharks will beat some nuck a$$

VTES
LGSGDIBTC

vonmerpf

Is Canada still even a separate country? Well, even if it is, it will be absorbed into the U.S. soon. We’ll just call them States 51 through 59 until we can come up with new, better names for them (New New Jersey, The State Formerly Known As Alberta, American Columbia, etc.). Maybe we can make some money by selling Quebec back to the French (if they will take it that is).

GSDI!!! FTC!

Ryan Holmes

Go Sharks, I have not developed a dislike for another team in a long time. Comeback starts tonight! Break Kelers hear, right there under his little chickenwing! Go Sharks 1st step to the finals is tonight !#whalefail

MADFAN

SAMMY!

Tommy Chong a Canadian? I did not know that.

Nucksrule has someone he can hang out with at the clinic. It’s 4:20 somewhere, eh?

MADFAN!

Sharksfan3

LOL @SAMMY

GO SHARKS

jlsj

86

Our players get hit in the face with sticks and are bleeding. Kesler gets tapped on the chin with a glove and flops to the ice like a 400 lb figure skater.

7 million$ underachievers?
Hmmmmm….even if you guys beat us…when Luongo chokes against Boston/Tampa Bay….would he STILL be considered an underachiever evan after the idiots in the front office signed him to a 12 year $64 million dollar contract which some see as cheating, knowing he will retire before that?

Sammy

MADFAN!

that was funny

SAMMY!

ps it’s 420 right now. boo ya!

2Teal4u

Don’t forget about Rush people. And don’t forget all those famous Canadians got that way the good ol fashioned American way.

phil

Please win.

ZEKE

On TMc and DW. Neither is going anywhere. DW made one huge mistake in giving Heatley a big $$, long term deal.

He’s made other mistakes, but only 1 whopper. And mistakes come with the territory — everyone makes them.

Unfortunately, the Heatley mistake has acted as a constraint on this team’s ability to upgrade elsewhere, especially along the blue line. Which has been perhaps the biggest factor in our inability to get over the hump. Anyone doubt we’d be a tough out with a rent-a-Pronger?

Otherwise, you can point to a team well run, consistently competitive. Yeah, we’ve got some guys overpaid, but only 1 who is a major issue.

And we’ve got a good group of under 30 talent (led by Clowe, Nemo, Pavs). A bunch that’s contributing a lot that’s under 25 (Couture, Seto, Vlasic, Demers).

And our over 33 crowd, where guys begin to drop off, its limited to only 1 top guy, Boyle (34). Mayers, Nichol and Wallin are also up there, but its easy to see McGinn, Ferriero and Braun replacing those 3 in the not too distant future.

Yeah, I’d like to see TMc get us to try more cross ice passes. I know, you’ll give up more turnovers, but those get an awful lot of goals. And get our guys making feeds from behind the net. I’d like to see him figure out how to work the refs better. Heck, he called out his own guy, McGinn, for a penalty even the league didn’t think was that bad.

The top brass for the Sharks has done a very good job. What they haven’t done is put a team together designed for a run at the Cup that will need to be dismantled the very next year. Some will argue that’s a bad thing.

Seattleslew

Here in Seattle, the Canucks are our adopted team. I’ve rooted with them for over 15 years and it is great to see them on the cusp of playing for the Cup. I also went to Cal in the early 90′s and was there when the 8th seeded Sharks toppled the mighty Wings in the playoffs. So while I am biased I do have some affection for the Sharks.

That said, after reading these boards I wonder of the Shark fans are even watching the same series as I am (maybe you all need HNIC instead of the American feeds from Versus or NBC).

In general, the Canucks have looked the better team. I just don’t see how a Shark fan can claim otherwise. The Canucks dominated Games 1 and 2 from the second period on (they are the faster team). In game 3 the Sharks stated strong and repeated the habit of fading late (aided by penalties for trying to maim the Canuck defense). In game 4, the Canucks weathered the penalties, jumped on the penalty opportunities given by the Sharks and retreated to a shell in the 3rd. 13-30+ shots makes sense of the fact they were in the box in the 1st and cruising in the 3rd.

Normally a neurotic Canucks fan expecting the roof to cave in I can honestly say I was never worried in any of these games. The Canucks are just better and it shows. Hard fought? Yes. But the Canucks are just a cut above the Sharks…and I think the bitterness on these boards is because you see that too.

And please stop claiming the penalties for the Canucks were ‘make-up’ calls. The penalties the Sharks got in the 1st were marginal at best (mod Torres’ charging) and the immediate penalty in the second post Torres’ was a dive. But the refs didn’t screw you to ‘even it out.’ The Sharks screwed themselves first by not capitalizing on the penalties and later with mental break downs on the PK. You might complain about calling the hook while on the PK but you can’t claim it wasn’t a hook. And Too Many Men and Delay of Game are mandatory calls.

SharksFan22

#116 I thought the Sharks cross ice passes were getting broken up or intercepted…?

1SHXFAN

B ecoming
E lite
L eader
I ncite
E ventual
V ancouver
E limination

GO SHARKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sharksfan3

Sharks fans stay positive ignor the negative trolls!

Sammy

1shxfan

That is a gooooooood one

LGSGDI!!!!!

MamaShark

LEAVE IT ALL ON THE ICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am behind you and only wish that it all comes together for each of you, your fans and for the City. BE PROUD OF YOUR EFFORTS

YOU HAVE PREPARED ALL YEAR FOR THIS ONE GAME. EVERY LAST EFFORT up to the final horn.

Love you Guys. Go Get them!

Bdub

Was feeling pretty good until I found out Joe has a separated shoulder. Not good…not good at all. It’s a battle of attrition and we’re not holding up well. This may undo us more than anything else.

A real fan

#118: They are. The truth is that there are lots of suggestions on here, but they ignore the fact that Vancouver has been preventing just those strategies.

Vancouver is a better team. That’s not homerism, it’s not hating the Sharks, it’s a simple FACT. Vancouver has by a fair bit the better record in the regular season for a REASON. They took the regular season series from the Sharks for a REASON.

The Sharks are also a very VERY good team, but they have met their match in this one. When you also throw in a poor effort from some of the players, it becomes even more obvious. When the better team also puts in the more focussed effort, the end result is inevitable.

Shark fans should not consider that they ‘choked’. They didn’t choke, they lost to a better team, and there is no shame in that.

MamaShark

Hey BDUB – Thorton won’t feel a thing! And if he loses something due to a shoulder… well then something else will kick in for him. Just sayin! If he does play less or goes down, they can’t say he gave in or gave up.

It is the other lines that need to find a way through the opposition and make a difference…………

Bdub

#124…no real argument there. Except the best team doesnt always win. The challenge for the lesser team is to play at the top of their game while the so called better team is forced to play (or they do it on their own) below their best. The post season in all sports is inundated with the seemingly lesser team beating the better team. It’s not who’s the best team but who plays best in a 7 game series. In this case, Vancouver is both…so far.

Turvey

After this series is over think of Eager and how he selfishly tossed the Game the Canucks way.One idiot one Ego.We got rid of the Cooks and Obriens and replaced them with smarter players that are less likely to blow a fuse.
I hope he plays tonight because it will be the last game of this season for the Sharkies.
PS Skating out of a Sharks Jaw = GAY !

Sammy

Skating out of a sharks jaw = totally awesome!!! Come oooon even a nucklehead like you can see how awesome that is

newbie

Luongo is their overpaid albatross, Heater is ours.

Sammy

in other news

GSDI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m feeling a win coming on for our boys. It’s obvious Turvey does too. His comments make him seem nervous

puckace

Actually Sammy he can’t because he thinks men in green spandex are awesome.

puckace

#124 A Real Fan: We haven’t lost yet!

GSGDI!

Sammy

LOL @ puckface.

Turvey

@126
Nope.
Totally utterly Gay.

Thornton will be your bain not your Saviour.At best the Sharks are hanging on with a Healthy Thornton,half a Thornton aint much.
G,night .Thank you Come again.

http://shaw.ca dukemotosan

Ryan Kessler is going to be the Captain of the US hockey team at the Olympics in 2014 in Russia. His stellar play in the first two rounds is the only reason the Canucks beat Chicago, and Nashville. Say whatever you want about the Canucks, but Kessler is the type of player any GM would love to sign.

Sharks63

The only Canadian that gets my attention… Pam Anderson (early years) Nuff said

ZEKE

Seattleslew –

Too many men is a mandatory call? If you’d seen the Detroit series, you wouldn’t have thought that!!

The refs have been a strange bunch these past 2 series. Detroit got away with a ton of too many men situations — including an over the top bad call that resulted in an empty net clincher in game 6 (the 6th skater, who scored the goal, was on the ice when the guy leaving the ice was at the center circle!!).

Also in the Detroit series, refs refused to give the Sharks a 5 on 3 PP after a blatant interference by one of the Wings. You could see the ref looking right at the play and it was textbook. But you could also tell the ref decided he wasn’t going to make a potential series changing penalty call over something run-of-the-mill. The bar to make a 5 on 3 call was higher.

So now we’re in game 4 of this series, and neither the ‘high bar’ or the swallow the whistle applies for the ‘too many men’ situation going against the Sharks. Whichever way the ref are going to call it, be good if it were consistent.

It sucks to have such a pivotal moment in a series occur on something that was totally meaningless to the play on the ice. If it had cut both ways in the playoffs — I’d be more understanding. Refs use their discretion on things like too many men all the time. If it cut against the Canucks, you’d hate it too.

As for the other penalties that got called or missed — really not much to argue in game 4. Do wish the refs had called Kesler for his dive, though!! That would have been funny.

hondr

OK I’ve had it with all these Canadians talking smack.

Go Sharks!

Club them like baby harp seals!

hondr

Oh heck, just when I’m coming ’round to the Sharks, Zeke starts whining about the officiating again.

OK, back to neutral for me. I just want to see some good hockey.

Johnny San Jose

Mission accomplished!!! Shamu has officially been kicked in the whale nuts by yours truly.

Nucksrule

#117 Seattle slew- how dare you come on this board and post something not conforming to the Shark trolls view of the world. How Un american! Prepare to be called a troll by, well the trolls. Enjoy the game, and Go Seahawks (if there is a season).

Section 219

Final prediction before the game starts — Canucks 5 Sharks 1. It’ll be close for awhile, the Canucks will score a couple of PP goals, the Sharks will collapse and give up, and the route will be on. 5-1, bad guys.

It’ll be interesting to read all of the rationalizing and explaining from DW and TMac about a 4-0 Conf. Finals last year and a 4-1 this year. 1-8 ain’t very good.

Nucksrule

Zeke, you should read the rule book – too many men is a mandatory call when one of the players (either the one coming on or the one coming off) plays the puck whn both are still on. The discretionary part is the 5 feet leeway given when coming on. Most linesman easily give 10 feet for that, maybe even more. Do the linesmen miss the mandatory call occassionally, of course, but if they see it its MANDATORY and they call it, particularly when its obvious like in game 4. Get over it, it was a lazy change by Marleau, he slowly skated the length of the bench! Alert play by Sedin to see it. You are the epitome of a whiner!

Nucksrule

Great kill! 2 men down almost 2 minutes. Don’t think you girls can whine about the refs right now!

ZEKE

I know the rule book Nuck — I also know the refs how swallowed their whistles plenty, especially on too many men calls.

fwiw, if the refs had swallowed their whistles on either or both of the penalties in period 1, wouldn’t have had a problem with it.

Nucksrule

Sharks got the same call tonight, difference is Im not whining about it.

sports man

I would believe when there are American, Russian and European Referees/official officiating the game instead of ALL CANADIAN officials with very little content. I know Canadians very well, all of a sudden it becomes a “Canadian” thing, everyone is saying ..Oooo we want the cup back in Canada. However, Sharks should have scored when they were on power play.

vegasguy

Did I say Van in 5…lol…yes I did!! Your classless thugs won’t have to worry about the conference finals next yr, you won’t make it!! Chicago is gonna be solid. Rafalski just retired today from the Wings, leaving 6 mil on the table. Seems he was playing with a bad back and knee. Draper(zero), Osgood(zero) are also done. That’s alot of cap $$ opening. They may go after my guy Jovanoski or Bieska. You guys are STUCK with Heatley…lol…would love to see my Coyotes open with these punks next yr, we could finally win a round:)

vegasguy

Oops, forgot to mention that LA will have Kopitar back next yr. They and Anaheim are young and talented. I see you guys going bye bye in the 1st round:)…no cup for Sharkies…EVER… with TM!!

http://CG Craig

I’m sorry the Sharks lost I really think when they set their mind to it they are a better team than Vancover.

But what I really like is the way they handle a loss or a victory. No difference when interviewed no excuses that includes players and coachs. Now Vancover they win the pompus airbag of a coach is all smiles and giggles. But lose and he’s blaming everyone in the known world refs, goonish Shark players reporters for asking a question and so on. Most of the time he won’t answer a question fully doesn’t want to cost himself money. The same way with his players. They get ahead everyone is smiling and just rolling along. Get behind and the flops start the arm waving on calls by both players and all the coaches. Myself I’ll take the class that Tmac and the boys show anytime.

Also I think we should appreciate the fact that they make the playoffs every year better to have a home team to watch than have to pick another team to root for. I’ll take another trip to next years finals right now and let the series play out hoping we win but at least we are there.